The Roaring Falls
by Naia101
Summary: The unusual town of Gravity Falls, a hornets nest of violent gangs and danger, even in the least expected places. After having their lives torn away from them by the ruthless gangs that rule the streets, Dipper and Mabel Pines try to go on living as best they can, but in such a savage place, is any kind of life going to be easy? Based off of Finnrakh Tybay's 1920's AU
1. The Last Mistake

**A/N: So, I wasn't originally going to post this, but then I realised, hang on... I've written 27 pages! So, I think I'm probably into it enough to make it a story. I dunno.**

 **Full credit to the AU goes to it's creator Finnrakh Tybay ( ) and I would definately recommend you check out their artwork because, seriously, they're amazing!**

 **I've kind of (Mostly) drawn on the description of this youtube video for the story, as I found it quite hard to find the origional story anywhere else (I am not very good at internetting, because, apparently everyone else could figure it out fine... I think it's just me...) : watch?v=7dYOT1p-IxM**

 **Oh, and some other fanfictions that I read based on this AU, so it's definately a mix of other people's ideas thrown in with my own.**  
 **Anyway, enough of my rambling. I've been working on this for ages, so I hope you enjoy!**

 **xXx**

Nonononono... It had happened again. How could he have let this happen again?

He could only be thankful that the blood covering his hands was his own, and not someone else's.  
Horror closed his throat up, which, for once, he was thankful for, seeing as he would have cried out if it hadn't.  
Slowly, he managed to calm his breathing down. Shutting out the coldness of what he was thinking, he tried to be reasonable.

Ok. First things first. Get rid of the blood.  
Then, try to sneak back to the Shake, without being seen.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to think back, past the black, missing patch of recent memory to the last thing he remembered doing.

Right. He was out, walking, late at night. He wasn't always so nyctophilic, but it was a starlit night, and he had needed time to clear his head.

Then what?

After that, he had run into...  
Of course...  
Gideon.

The ruthless gang leader who had murdered his parents.

Was that what had triggered it?

No, it was something else. The way the brat spoke to him, talked about his sister, Mabel, made him feel sick.

That must have been it. After that, just black.

God only knows what had happened then. Hopefully, nothing of huge consequence, or else there would be hell to pay.

The once astriferous sky had become a black, empty void. A good thing too, the night hid him from late night nomads, allowing him to traverse the streets unseen. Soon, he reached the Shake. The old club had also been nicknamed 'The Mystery Shack', due to the... 'exotic' items and people that populated it during the night hours. In other words, it was a meeting place for gangleaders, and 'under the radar' merchants selling their 'wares'. Unfortunately, any policemen in the area were all either paid off by said occupants, or just plain oblivious. Probably both.

The lights in the main club area were all off, meaning that, thankfully, the club was probably closed, and that it must be the small hours of the morning for it to actually be uninhabited by it's usual patrons. The Shake was one of the most late open public places in the entire town, most likely due to the fact that Stan Pines, the owner of the place, was squeezing the business for every penny it could bring in. Especially in such a place as Gravity Falls.

Dipper approached the small oeil-de-boeuf that was known to have a broken lock, so it would be easy to sneak into. Trying to ignore the fear of going to sleep in there when anyone else could just use the same entering trick as him, he slid inside as quietly as possibly.

If the club was closed, then his sister would definitely be asleep, after singing on stage, probably until everyone had left, she was often so tired by the time she got to bed, she would be snoring in seconds.

These suspicions were confirmed after peeking into the room that they shared and seeing her fast asleep.  
He breathed a small sigh of relief.  
Just down the corridor, in back room, there was a water pump, a necessity for the club business, where he could wash the red from his hands.

He turned the corner to enter the room, but too late, he realised that a silhouetted figure was already there.

In the darkness, neither could quite make each other out. Thankfully, this also hid the blood on his hands.

The sound of a gun click filled the room.  
"Who is that?"

It was the voice of Ford. Someone who, only just recently, he had found out about.  
"It's just me."

Recognising his voice, Ford lowered the weapon.  
"What are you doing here?"

Quickly, Dipper fumbled for an excuse.  
"I needed a drink. What are you doing here?"

The faint shadow of Ford held up what looked like the outline of one of the numerous bottles of alcohol kept in this room.

"Pretty much the same thing."

Dipper sighed. He wasn't a child anymore. This was normal, especially in this kind of world.

Now was not the time to be thinking about that kind of stuff. He still had to wash all of that red off of his hands. Every second he spend talking with Ford, the higher his chances of getting found out.

"Hey, shouldn't you have come with a light? How are you going to see where the pump is?"

Oh no.  
If Ford lit a lamp, he would see the state of him.

"No, I can find may way. Don't want to waste it for something so small."

Ford paused for a moment.  
"Suit yourself. I'd better be going to my room. I'll see you tomorrow."

Dipper nodded.  
"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

Something told him that Ford was still suspicious, but, thankfully, he didn't push the matter. Maybe it was just tiredness. Or the obvious.

After the sound of Ford's footsteps had faded away, Dipper hastened to where he knew the pump was.

He only pumped it a little. If he had really pushed on it, then it would have woken everyone up.

After a couple of deep breaths, he put his hands under the freezing water and started scrubbing. Up until that point, he had been so focused on getting back to the Shake, that he hadn't felt the pain that now pulsed through his hands and arms.

The blood had long dried, so it was easy to clean off in the pitch dark, but, as he felt along his arms, he found gashes and bruises all over them.

Wincing, he pulled his hands away from the running water and stopped pumping it up.

Tired and hollow, he made is way back to his shared room, taking extra care not to wake Mabel.

Surely, the next day would be better. It had to be.  
In the dim moonlight, his hands and forearms were still tinted red, but that could be passed off as anything.  
Fatigue pushed down his eyes as he hoped for a better tomorrow.

Per usual, when he awoke, the other bed was empty. Sometime, Dipper thought that his sister might be superhuman to be able to go to bed so late, and yet still wake up hours before anyone else.

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, groaning as the wounds on his arms complained loud and painfully.

For the first time, he noticed that he must have gone to bed in his clothes from the day before. Small splatters of red still populated the ends of his sleeves, but they shouldn't be too noticeable, as long as he got rid of them quickly.

After changing and pulling on a long-sleeved jacket to hide the cuts, he sauntered his way to the dining room down the hall.

As expected, Mabel was sitting at the table, enjoying breakfast.  
Dipper poured himself a glass of orange juice and grabbed a slice of buttered toast.

"Morning, Dipper!"  
She said, her voice aleger and uplifting.

"Morning." He replied, groggily, still exhausted from the previous night.

"So, where did you go last night, anyway?"

He stopped to think about how he should answer. Of all people, Mabel was the one he least wanted to lie to. But, if she somehow got involved, or tried to help, who knew what would happen? In all likelihood, this Demon would kill her as soon as he found out that she knew.

No. It was better to just not tell her.

"I just went for a walk. I didn't think such a starry night should be wasted.".

She grinned at him and held her fist up to the ceiling, as if she was about to rally a revolution.  
"Right! Stars should never be wasted!"

After everything that had happened with Gideon and Bill, her innocent cheerfulness was refreshing.  
He gave her a half smile before sitting down at the table to eat.

Before long, Stan joined them, looking even worse than Dipper did.

"Morning!" Mabel said to him, still smiling, even if he didn't reply. In fact, he wouldn't speak until he had a cup of coffee in his hand and a breakfast in front of him. Even then, all that they got was a half groaned, "Yeah. Mornin'."

Unfazed, Mabel turned to Dipper.  
"So, what are you doing today, then?"

"I don't know, something?"  
Then he remembered something.  
"Hey, Grunkle Stan, where's Ford?"

Stan pulled a face.  
"Pft. How should I know? I'm not his keeper."

There was an awkward silence.

"Anyway, I've gotta go open up. I'll see you tonight, don't forget."

He left the dining room, quickly, leaving the twins.

"Hey, Mabel," Dipper said, "Do you want to go to the library today?"  
Her eyes lit up.  
"Okay!"

There was something different. The tone of his voice changed. The atmosphere grew pressurised and voltaic.

A confidence that wasn't there before showed in his countenance as Dipper got up and began walking towards them. She always got so excited about the smallest things.  
"Great, I think it opens in a while, if we set off now, it should be open when we get there."

The library was huge. Strange, for such a small town. Not that he was complaining.

It was a good place to scan through the journal that he had found not long after getting to Gravity Falls. Not only was there other books and references to help with any kind of research, but it was somewhere where he didn't need to worry about being seen with it. After all, with the gangs and danger, you could never be too sure.

Mabel quickly bounded off to look through the art books, with the pictures and paintings in them, so he found a closed in corner and got the journal out from his jacket.

There had to have something about possession, or, at least, about the series of events that had lead him to this point.

As he flicked through the pages, there didn't seem to be anything of use, until...

Right in the middle of the book, there was a double page spread of scrawled ramblings. Chunks of writing crossed out and written over with red. Blotches of the same colour were splattered over it. Some kind of cyclic triangle veve was emblazoned on the centre of one of the pages, but it meant nothing to Dipper. No matter how many books he looked in, there was nothing even remotely related to it, and the red scribbles made it impossible to read most of what was written down.

He slammed the book shut in frustration.  
Why couldn't there ever be a straight answer for anything? Ever?

Vaguely, he remembered Mabel telling him that she was going home. He must have been reading something, and not taken much notice.

Once again, he found himself walking home. In the dark. This really was a habit he had to break, it wasn't safe.

Thankfully, though, it wasn't that long a walk back to the Shake, so it was still open when he got there. Inside, he could hear Mabel singing, like she did most nights, on stage.

He was about to keep walking past the club, when the shouts of their great uncles rang down the corridor.

"Keep outta my stocks! I didn't even wanna let you stay here for this long! You and anything you're involved in is too dangerous!"

"Well, I wouldn't need to stay here if I had anywhere else to go! And what about you? You're so 'involved' in you're business that you need bodyguards! In fact, what you do is just as dangerous as what I do, if not, more, because at least I tried to keep in with good connections to powerful people! You just make underhanded deals on your own to people who could shut you and everyone you know down forever, with no insurance!"

"Yeah, and where are those 'good connections' now, Ford? Tell me? Where? Oh, that's right, trying to kill you! At least I _have_ bodyguards!"

"You're reckless, Stanley, you always have been! One day, you're going to dig yourself a hole you can't get out of!"  
"Yeah, and I suppose you'll be there waiting for me, won't you? Seeing as you've been there for the past 5 years!"

There was the sound of something smashing, and Dipper hurriedly decided that it was probably best just to go into the club.

Mabel was still performing on stage, so he quietly manoeuvred his way around the edge to a seat in the corner, hoping no one would approach him.

As usual, the crowd was clapping in bacchanalia, most completely out-of-it from the drink.  
After the song finished, Mabel moved to exit the stage, and protests were heard from all around the room, but still, she came off and came to sit with Dipper in his corner.

"Hey bro! Good to see you came back from the library! I was worried we would lose you there for days!"

Her voice sounded slightly horse, probably from all of the singing, so she went to get a drink of water. When she came back, the two of them had barely had time to start talking before some drunk and his lackeys had shambled their way over.

"Hey, aren't you a bit young to be working so hard?"

His breath stank of alcohol as he spoke. Mabel moved closer to Dipper, who slightly pulled both of them around the table, away from the man.

"Ummm... No, I just..."  
He cut her off.  
"Why don't you come have some fun with us, huh? take a break from all the work."

His grotesque grin was yellow and repulsive.

"Oh, thank you, but I can't I'm going back on stage in..."  
Once again, he barged in.  
"And what? Come on, we just want some fun, come on!"

He grabbed her wrist and she cried out.

"H-hey!"  
Dipper shouted at them.  
"She said no! Leave her alone!"  
He went to pull the man's wrist off of Mabel, when, suddenly, there was a small knife pointed at him. It shook violently in the hand of the man.

"You best back off, boy. This ain't got nothing to do with you."

Dipper felt the cold metal of the knife. Where were Soos and Wendy when you needed them? Probably with Stan.

He swallowed the fear beginning to gather in his throat.

"Yes it does. I said, get off!"  
Dipper grabbed the wrist holding the knife, pushing it away and pulling Mabel out of his grasp.  
Before another breath was taken, they were surrounded the the Drunk's henchmen.

"You just made the last mistake of you're life, boy."

Once again, the man made a grab for Mabel and shoved Dipper back, the tip of the knife digging into his shoulder.

"Dipper, help!"

They started pulling Mabel back.

Dipper looked back up at them, clutching his shoulder wound.

"I told you to **GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!** "

Silence fell.

 **xXx**  
 **A/N : Well. There it is. Chapter 1... One more thing, I know that this particular AU is set in the 1920's in America, being an uncultured Brit, I tried to do as much research as possible when writing this, but I have no idea if ANYTHING I wrote was anything like truth. Feel free to correct anything, if it isn't.**  
 **Hopefully, chapter 2 should be out soon, since I've already written in, if people like this, I'll post more. Or I might just anyway... Oh well! I'm having a bit too much fun writing this!**

 **Bye! xXx**

 ***Edit - to anyone who noticed that I spelled Mabel's name wrong *Waves hand mystically* You didn't see anything ;-)**

 **I need to stop writing late at night...**


	2. Explaination

**A/N : So. Here we are again. It's always such a pleasure. I guess I wrote enough to publish twice.**

 **Sorry, I'll just leave.**

 **Anyway, thank you for the response that this got! I mean, seriously, 15 minutes after being up and I alread had a review? That's INSANE!**

 **So, one more thing, thank you to the person who corrected me on a couple of points of american histery that I didn't know about. I didn't realise how off the rails my story was! But, oh well. I mean, it's an AU, right? So from this moment forth it is an AU of reality as well! We'll just have to pretend that Gravity Falls is, like, some congregation of criminals who don't abide by the law, and I already wrote in that the cops there are either stupid, oblivious or paid off, and most likely all three! So, any kind of histoical inacuraccies, there's my lame excuse! :-D**

 **I don't think this is what Mabel meant when she legalised everything, but, that's apparently what happened.**

 **Anywho, less rambling, more story! Hope you enjoy!**

 **xXx**

...

There was something different. The tone of his voice changed. The atmosphere grew pressurised and voltaic.

A confidence that wasn't there before showed in his countenance as Dipper got up and began walking towards them.  
The man's own confidence shook slightly, but he still held onto Mabel.

"O-oh, what are you g-gonna do?"

In one lightning quick movement, this new Dipper grabbed a gun from one of the man's lackey's belt and knocked the knife out of the man's hand. Then, before anyone could process what was going on, he shoved the barrel against the man's head and the sound of it clicking hit the gang's ears.

"You know..."  
Dipper began, in a voice that didn't sound anything like himself.  
"I should really thank you for letting this happen."

He paused. The man looked at him, his eyes wide, bloodshot and completely shocked. 'Dipper' gave a scelestic grin, too wide to belong to anything from the mortal realm.

"But, there's just one problem with that."

The smile fell just as suddenly as it had sprung up.

"Something about you really _pisses me off._ "

"I... ca... ne... to...be...we...ah..."

The man stammered out a splurge of incoherent sounds and grunts.  
His gunweilder gave a small laugh.

"Well, I don't want to cause a fuss, do I? That would blow my cover. But, if you don't get. Out. Then I'm afraid I'll just have to anyway. Then I'll be _doubly_ pissed and don't think, for a second, that death is the most painful thing I can do to you."

The man nodded his head, practically foaming at the mouth, fear making him shake even more that the drink.

"Okay then, glad to see we're all clear."

With a slight flick upwards, he clicked the gun off and shoved the man onto the floor, who took one look up at him, pure terror and hatred burning in his eyes, before scrambling away, out of the club.

Dipper glanced back at Mabel, who was standing behind him, looking at him, stunned and scared at what had just happened. She hadn't heard much of what he had said to the man, but the fact that he had _pointed a gun_ at a man's head and threatened him was so terrifyingly out of character! Not to mention she was pretty sure no human could move that fast.

She opened her mouth to say something, but he quickly walked before she got the chance, out of the club, leaving her alone, still frozen with shock.

-

As soon as he left the club and got into the hallway, he began to chuckle.  
The sound seeming to bubble from the air around him, building up like a pressurised cooker, until it broke free into a strangely distorted, maniacal laugh.

"So soon too! Geez, kid, you really need to calm down! Either that, or you're life just sucks. Probably both!"

He span the gun around his finger and shoved it in his belt. Turning into the kitchen, he started going through all of the storage spaces. He didn't feel hungry or thirsty, but the effect food and drink could have on a guy when they hadn't tasted anything for weeks was revitalising.

In the very back of one of one of the cupboards, hidden behind bottles of alcohol, was a pipe, and it even still had some tobacco left in it.

Grinning at his find, he pulled out the lighter that Dipper always kept on him for emergencies and lit it, blowing smoke into the air.

After exploring a couple of other rooms, he came across something that caught his attention.

"Well, hello Fordsy! Long time, no see!"

The one who he had walked in on jumped out of his skin.  
Pulling out his gun, he whipped around and pointed it right at 'Dipper's head.  
Shock made him take a step back as he stumbled away from who was at the doorway.

"No... _No_... How? It can't be... It can't..."

"Awww... I didn't realise you missed me so much, Sixer!"

Anger replaced the shock as Ford kept the gun at his head.

"What the hell are you doing here? Why are you in the form of my great nephew, Bill?"

Bill laughed again, and took a breath from the pipe.

"Long story short, I got into some bad business and ended up in here. I've been waiting for the kid to blow up so that I could take over when you were nearby."

"What do you want Bill? And stop ruining his lungs. He's still only young."

As if in defiance, Bill blew a puff of smoke right into Ford's face, who grounded his teeth furiously.

"And what are you going to do?"

Silence as they stood there glaring at each other.

"So, what I want. I want you to help me with something. Having physical form again is great and everything, but I'm not always the one in control. I need you to help me with a favour, and, in return, I won't do the kid any damage. As a former associate, I hope you make the right choice."

Ford looked away, ashamed of having ever been involved in Cipher's gang. At the time, it was one of the most feared gangs in all of Gravity Falls and if anyone could have gotten him safety in a town like this, it was them. What an idiot he had been.

"And I don't take this deal? What then?"

Bill grinned at him again.

"Well."  
He took blew out another puff of smoke. The grey mist swirling and mixing with the dust in the dimly lit air.  
"I can't guarantee the kid's safety. Or that of anyone else he cares about."

He leaned against the doorway, the pipe dangling from his smiling mouth.

"So, what'll it be, Fordsy?"

"What's the favour?"

Bill waved his finger at him, tutting condescendingly.

"Ah, ah, ah. We'll work out the details later."

There was no way he could agree and not follow through. Bill was a master of manipulation. Underhanded deals were his speciality. But, on the other hand, this was his fault. Even if he couldn't understand how on Earth Bill could have possessed his great nephew, it was his fault that they were at risk. If he didn't take this deal...

"Alright, Bill... Alright. I agree."

Ford stuck his eyes closed as every part of him told him to stop, to not get involved.

Who was he kidding. He'd always been involved.

Bill turned to face him and pulled the pipe from his mouth.

"Good choice."  
He said in a serpentine voice, extending his hand for a handshake.

With a pause, Ford reluctantly took it.

-

 _*Cough* *Cough*_

The only sensation Dipper could feel was some kind of burning in his lungs.

 _*Cough* *Cough*_

It was hard to take a breath in before he was hacking up his insides again.

"What the hell happened this time?"  
He muttered under his breath.

The blurry world began to clear.

Still dizzy, he tried to stand up, but just ended up back on his knees.  
First things first. Report.

Where was he?  
He looked around. It seemed like he was in the pump room again, God only knows why.  
What was the last thing he remembered?  
In the club, those men harassing Mabel. They'd started pulling her away, and shoved him, stabbing him in the shoulder. Then, everything had gone black.

Remembering this, he gasped and made a dash for the room he shared with his sister.  
Was she okay?

He quietly peeked in the door, and let out a sigh of relief.  
She was fine, asleep in bed. It didn't look like she had been hurt in any way.

Relaxing, he leaned against the wall, sliding down it until he was sat in the corridor, head in his arms resting on his knees.

For once, it had helped. As much as he hated to admit it, if it hadn't have been for the Demon, Mabel could have been in real danger.

People who did things like that made him sick. This town really was too dangerous for the two of them not to be on their guard. After all, it was only once. Next time, the Demon wouldn't be helping.

He clenched his fists.  
Why did it have to be like this?  
It had been hard enough after their parents' death. Now, living in the same town as their free-as-a-bird murderer, and, to make matters worse, there was a goddamn Demon plaguing his mind.

Even though he knew he still had Mabel, he had never felt so alone in his whole life.  
Another moment, and he was sure that he wouldn't be able to stop the flood of tears anymore.

Thankfully, he instinctively jerked his head up as footsteps hit the floor, heavy and uneven.  
He tried to get up fast enough to avoid them, but before he could make a break for it, Ford rounded the corner.

Without a second's hesitation, he started to reach for his gun, suspicion flickering in his eyes.

After the initial surprise, Dipper clicked what had happened.

He had seen.

He looked at Ford with a mixture of fear, shame and desperation, horrified at what his Great Uncle would think of him after whatever the hell that Demon had done.

"Listen, Dipper, what happened yesterday?"

Dipper blinked at him. Ford still hadn't lowered his guard. Did he think that Dipper was still Bill?

"I... I don't know." Dipper answered, as carefully as he could with his voice shaking as it was.

"There were these men, harassing Mabel, and I... I just... I tried to..."  
After stammering for an excuse, he thought about it more rationally. If Ford had already seen the Demon, then there was no point lying. Dipper would just have to hope to any God that was there that he believed him.

"I was trying to get them away from her and everything went black. Then I woke up by the water pump."  
Even though his voice was still quivering, he wasn't stuttering his words anymore.

Ford looked at him for a long while. But, eventually, he lowered his hands from his gun and sighed heavily.

"Tell me what happened."

Dipper looked away. He didn't want to relive what had happened to him. He just wanted to suppress it and pretend it never happened. But, he needed someone to trust. He needed to tell someone and share the weight of the burden.

"Well, it started a couple of weeks ago..."

-

"Look, kids, if you're gonna live here, you've gotta pull your weight. Earn your keep, you know?"

The twins hardly looked up at him.

Stan dropped the facade that everything was okay.

"I... er... I'm sorry. I know it's hard... When, this kind of stuff happens. I... I get it... It's hard for me too..." Stan trailed off. Unsure of what to say. Well, what could you say? They were still kids, having to go through something like this. It was unfathomable.

He kneeled down and put one hand each of their shoulders.  
"Hey, it's okay. Can either of you perform? Like, on a stage? Cos' you could do that, it's not too hard."

No answer.

"It'll be a good distraction. That's the best thing we can all do now. Just... Distract ourselves."

He patted them both gently and stood up.

Here, I'll show you you're room. You don't mind sharing, do you? Cos' there ain't much of a choice."

The twins looked up at him for the first time, and in their eyes, you could see each of their pain.  
Mabel's eyes were still wet and shining. Hopelessness and misery were sloshing around as freely as the frequent tears that washed over them.

Dipper's eyes showed the same sadness, but something else was there as well. Anger. And Defensiveness. He had been holding tightly to Mabel the whole way here, all the while silently furious at whoever had caused them both so much agony.

Stan looked away, and started to walk down the hall to their new room. The two of them followed, silently.

-

"Hey, Dipper, guess what!"

"What is it Mabel, do you have to yell?"

"Yes! This is a yelling situation! Grunkle Stan just said I could sing on the stage in the club!"

Dipper was taken aback. He knew Mabel was great at singing, but somehow, this was still surprising.

"Grunkle?"

Mabel sighed at his lack of imagination.

"Grunkle! As in Great Uncle? Grunkle? Get it?"

"Does he actually let you call him that?"

"I dunno! I haven't asked him."

At that, they both laughed together.

"Well, okay, Mabel, but just, be careful, okay? There are some really bad people in this town. And..."

He paused and lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Have you seen the kind of stuff Stan sells in the club?"

Mabel blew a raspberry at him, waving her hand in denial.

"I'll be fine! I'm only gonna be on the stage, and I'll go straight out of the club when I'm done!"

Dipper looked at her sceptically, still not entirely happy with it.

"Besides! Grunkle Stan wouldn't let anything happen!"

Her unshakeable faith was obvious, so Dipper knew there was nothing else he could say on the subject.

"Just, be careful, okay?"

She grinned at him.

"There he is! My paranoid brother! Don't worry, Dip, I'll be careful!"

With that, she ran off out of the room, supposedly to rehearse for that night. Dipper still didn't like it, but there was nothing he could do. His sister could be as obstinate as a mule when she set her mind to something.

-

Seeing as there was no way on this, or any other Earth Dipper could perform on stage, Stan left him to clean up the club after it closed at about 2 in the morning. Often times, he wouldn't even get to bed until 4, and even then, sleep was hard.

It was one night, when the patrons had been much more overzealous than usual, and left a monster of a mess to clean, so it was probably around 3am when he was taking out the trash to be picked up by the disposal cart, finally ready to finish up.

Earlier last night, some little brat had tried to talk up Mabel. Not massively aggressively, but it was creepy, whichever way you looked at it. He had heard from Stan that it had been some big gang leader named Gideon, but he didn't give a last name. Dipper had felt like he had heard the name before, but couldn't quite recall where.

But, anyway, Gideon had stayed so late, following Mabel around, that he had, essentially, had to be kicked out by Stan, and there was something about the way he left that made it obvious that he wasn't going to give up.

Well, after not being seen at all the next night, the whole affair seemed to be washed off of everyone's hands. Unfortunately, they may have forgotten the matter a little too early.

After emptying what he had been carrying into the trash, Dipper turned to get back to the house, until something caught his eye.

A flash of blue, in the alley down the side of the Shake. It flickered for a millisecond before flashing out, leaving the alley just as black as before. Stan had warned them not to go down those alleys. It was like the physical manifestation of the Underworld that ruled Gravity Falls.

"Surely if I don't go too far down it, I'll be fine." He muttered to himself. Avid curiosity was something he could never get rid of.

He made his way a couple of meters into the dark alleyway.

Nothing. Just black night.

He edged forward slightly, hoping to see some kind of explanation for the flash of light.

But, unfortunately, to no avail.

He let out a disappointed sigh. His tired mind must have just been playing tricks on him.  
He shook his head slightly to clear it and began to turn around, when he heard a faint voice echoing in the distance.

Ordinarily, he would have done the smart thing and ignored it, until he caught one word of the conversation.

"...Pines..."

He stopped. Surprised.  
Why the hell were two shady coverts talking about his family in a dodgy back-alley in the dead of night?

Dipper turned back around and moved further into the alleyway, following the distant voices.  
As he drew closer, he began to pick up bits and pieces of their conversation.

"...Nothing personal... Bad... Afraid..."  
"Well... Apologise... Stupid... Power..."

Closer still, and full sentences were emerging from the night air.

"Really, I had hoped for better of you... Such a... Own hands dirty...rudimentary as this. Or should I be flattered that the almighty... coming off of his high throne to deal with me personally?"

"I'm not sure what else to tell you... Just business. You're the one making this difficult."

Dipper almost rounded the next corner, but stopped just before he did when he noticed that they were right there.

Putting his hand over his mouth to quiet his fast breath, he listened as intently as possible.

"If you do this, I promise, you will regret it."  
"Well. Maybe so, but I'm willing to take that risk. I has taken me a long time to drive you out of you're latibule, and let us not forget that you're the one who crossed the line, when you interfered in the movement of my goods."  
"Well, I couldn't let you keep all of the good stuff to yourself, now, could I?"

There was the click of a gun, and from behind the corner, Dipper's heart skipped a beat.

"Like I said before. It's nothing personal."  
"And as I said. You will regret this."  
There was a small chuckle.  
"Goodbye. Cipher."

The sound of the shot echoed throughout the alley, bouncing off of every wall, turning corners as though it was a living thing, searching for something, or someone. The sickening * _thud_ * of a body hitting the floor.

Everything was still and silent.  
For a moment, no one moved. It was as if time itself had stopped in shock.

Dipper's mind was in overdrive.  
Someone had just been shot. Someone had just been killed, not 5 meters away from him. A mixture of terror and revulsion mixed in a nauseating cocktail in his stomach.

Then, the steady sound of footsteps were beat against the floor.  
For one terrifying moment, Dipper thought the footsteps were coming towards him, but, thankfully, they began to grow faint. Disappearing in the other direction.

All Dipper could do was stand there in shock.  
What the hell had he just heard happen?!

He was so busy trying not to hyperventilate, that he almost missed the sound of someone dragging something.  
When he finally heard it, Dipper stopped dead in his tracks.  
The sound was wet. As if whatever was being dragged was soaked in something.

His breath caught in his throat as he realised what it was.  
Someone was dragging the body of whoever was just killed. Cipher? He thought the one who had killed him had called his victim.

The sound of dragging got further and further away and, in a split second decision, Dipper decided to follow them. He had to find out what the hell this creep wanted with a corpse.

He took a deep breath, and turned to peek around the corner.

Immediately, his gut began to retch, the sight of so much blood turning his stomach on it's head.

He threw his hand up to his mouth to try to stop the sound of gagging to escape. That, and what else might have come up.

The silhouetted figure was short, and... Stodgy. He was difficult do describe, other than that.  
The dead man he was carrying could be half seen, even in the darkness. It was like he was a big smudge of yellow, almost luminous in the dark, with a big blotch of dark crimson staining his chest.

Luckily, the Dragger was too preoccupied to notice Dipper there.  
As he rounded the next corner, Dipper tried to slow his breathing and crept along behind them on tiptoe, trying to keep as much distance between him and any splatter of blood as possible in the narrow alley.

Quickly, he followed suit, determined not to lose the two of them, navigating from one alleyway into the next.

Finally, after an age of following, the Dragger stopped and dropped the dead man on the floor.

"This had better work."  
The shadow appeared to look at the dead man.  
"Don't think you fooled me, Demon."  
He got out some kind of thick book and began flicking through the worn pages. Something about it was strangely... Familiar...

Then, he started to utter something.  
At first, it was too quiet for Dipper to hear from where he was.  
Then, it grew louder, and louder.  
It sounded like some kind of made up language, but as it grew into a crescendo, an eerie blue light began to glow from somewhere around the figure's neck.

It lit up his face so that Dipper could clearly see who it was.

Gideon.

Why was Gideon here? And carrying a corpse, for crying out loud!

The chanting continued.

The blue light grew bright and brighter, showing the pale face of the other man as well. His skin was white, papery and pulled taunt against his face. Hollowed by death.

The night air was like it was gaining substance, becoming thick and heavy. Then electrically charged as sparked began to fly near the corpse.

Rather than a knot, Dipper felt like there was an entire quarry of rocks in his stomach, all collapsing and moving and scraping against each other like nails on a chalkboard.

Gideon had stopped chanting and was looking around him like something wasn't right.  
This only served to terrify Dipper even more.

"What the ?... This ain't... This ain't what was meant to happen! This was meant to destroy you fully, Demon! Get rid 'o' you for good! Why... Why ain't it workin' ? What 'ave you done?!"

There was a flash of bight yellow. Blinding the both of them.  
Barely conscious, Dipper heard the distant sound of distorted laughter fill the air.

It was the last thing before black swallowed up the world.

-

Ford looked at Dipper in disbelief as he finished his tale.

"Ever since then, whenever I get angry, I black out and wake up later on with no memory of the last couple of hours, roughly."

Guilt flashed in Ford's eyes as they flicked to the gun ready at his belt, before they lowered to the floor.

"I... I'm sorry, Dipper. I couldn't be sure of anything when I saw Bill."

The silence filled the corridor, pressurising the air around them.

"It's okay. But... Now you talk! How do you know... Bill? What has happened to me?"  
There was a pleading look on Dipper's face as he asked for help.

Ford sighed.  
"It's not something Stanley would like me telling you..."

"I won't tell him!"  
Dipper interrupted quickly.  
"I'm old enough to make my own choices. I won't tell Stan that you told me. I won't mention this at all."

Ford gave a sad smile, before nodding and sighing heavily, once again. He reached into his coat, revealing a small box. Upon flipping open the top, Dipper could see that it contained only 2 cigarettes. A flame flickered as Ford lit one of them, the glowing embers burrowing into the tobacco becoming emblazoned against the darkness of the corridor.

"Well... When I was younger... A lot younger... I came to Gravity Falls, in the hopes of finding work, earning money, getting a good life. I had heard rumours that this was somewhere the law couldn't touch, so it was the perfect place to be free to do any research I pleased. How foolish I was. As soon as I got here, I realised that it was too dangerous for someone like me. Thugs and gangs were around every corner, and I had nothing left. No money, nothing."

He paused and shook his head.

"I had no choice. I had to get protection from somewhere if I wanted to survive to see the next day. At the time, the Gang lead by the infamous Bill Cipher was at it's most powerful. I figured if I had help from someone like that, I was pretty much set for life. So, I joined the gang. With my brain and tactical thinking, I quickly rose through the ranks of the gang. In fact, me and Bill... We were partners. I helped him with business, he gave me protection from any other gangs in the town."

Ford pinched the bridge of his nose, looking as if he was being forced to face a ghost. Which, in a way, he was.

"We were working on something together. It seemed like Black Magic. Some kind of ancient power. We were researching it, experimenting with it. In the end, well, it grew too dangerous. I could see the evil that the research was uncovering, but Bill didn't stop. Still, we continued, because of my damn curiosity of things I should have left well alone. So, yes, we continued."

With one final breath, he finished.

"But, things like that don't last long. You see, nobody dared stand up to Cipher's gang, for fear of their lives. That is, until the Northwests came to town. Within a matter of days, they had shut down Bill's entire supply chain and taken any power he had away from him. There was no way I could stay there. Bill was determined to fight until the end, even with the decreasing number of members, due to either defection, death or skipping town entirely, he waged that gang war for as long as he could. The man was obsessed. I don't even believe he had ever cared about his gang, or anything like that. Power was the only thing he cared about. It was probably why he was so insistent on investigating this Black Magic, learning how to control it to it's full potential."

The story was punctuated by sighs of shame and regret.

"He was insane. There was no denying it. Even up until the end, he was grinning ear to ear."

Dipper could tell how this story ended.

"So, I ended my partnership with Bill the only way I could with my life intact. I ran. I ran as far as I could. It was the same time Stanley had arrived in town, on the run from about 50 people and half of the states in the country. So, I hid out with him, until I was forced to tell him the truth of what I had done, and he said that I wasn't welcome under his roof any more. To be honest, I can't say that I blame him. The things I did when I was involved in that gang... Unspeakable things. I wrote 3 Journals, documenting the Black Magic that Bill and I researched. Horrible things filled those pages. I have no idea where 2 of them are, though."  
Ford had his fists clenched so tight, they were as white as bone. He breathed out, slowly and controlled, and released them.

There was clearly more to the story, but Dipper was thankful enough that Ford was opening up, even just this much, so he didn't try to push for anything more. Besides, something else had just struck him.

"So..."  
Dipper began, carefully.  
"Bill... Bill was trying to find you, and I lead him straight here?"  
Shock and shame where burning like fuels in his eyes, only to be quenched by the shine of tears that threatened to spill over.

Ford's eyes widened.  
He had just told this child about how he had helped the very thing tormenting him, killed for it, even, and yet, Dipper was blaming himself for the whole situation.

Without thinking, he walked forward, and hugged him.

Completely out of the blue, and never something you would expect from him, but, in that moment, it was just nice just to know that you were no longer alone in your suffering.

It didn't last long, and when it ended, the two of them just sort of shuffled, awkwardly, but, as short lived as it was, just having someone to share in the guilt, someone you could trust, was like lifting a huge weight that had been forced down on their shoulders.

"Dipper..."  
Ford put his hand on Dipper's shoulder.  
"We need to get rid of Bill, as soon as possible."

Dipper nodded, quickly.  
"I'll do anything it takes."  
A bellicose look in the boy's eyes seemed to rekindle his determination, giving Ford a fresh sense of hope for what was, undeniably, a long and painful path.  
He gave Dipper a reassuring smile in return, which served to give them both hope for the future,

"Thanks, Great Uncle Ford."

Another awkward silence. Neither really knowing how to continue the conversation, until Dipper finally realised how exhausted he was. All of the nerves, and the conversation with Ford had distracted him from his fatigue.

"It's really late. I should probably be getting to bed."

"Right. Yes, of course. You had better."

With a quick wave, Dipper turned into his shared room to turn in for the night. After all, that day had been so emotionally tiring.

 **xXx**

 **A/N : Yaaay! Another chapter down. I hope this answer wasn't** ** _too_** **out of the blue. And don't worry! Other characters are coming! I know for a fact that Soos and Wendy show up soon, I don't know what chapter it'll be, but definately soon!**

 **Also, I did try to put the link to Tybay's tumblr account in the previous chapter, but after 3 TRIES, I figured just didn't like it, sorry about that.**

 **Until next time, I'll see you all later!**


	3. Old Friends

**A/N : Hey, so, another chapter! Yay! I've had this witten up for ages, so I probably should have updated sooner, but, with exams and stuff going on it was all kinda AAAAAH! But, holidays have started, so I should have either more time to write, or more distractions to stop me. At any rate, we'll be finding out soon!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **xXx**

-

 _The world was a mess of colours. Everything melting into itself, with no hard edges._

 _Dipper's mind was groggy, as if it had been dowsed in thick syrup._

 _The world fizzed into focus, everything still too bright and too blurry, but slightly distinguishable._

 _In front of him, a sudden cloud of grey flew into vision, completely masking everything around him._

 _The faint smell of smoke pierced through the bubble that his senses were in, taking him by surprise._

 _People were talking, but everything sounded like he was hearing it from deep underwater._

 _His vision began to melt away, but before he could think to stay aware, consciousness had already slipped through his fingertips._

 _In the darkness, the only sound left was muffled laughter._

Something shook Dipper awake, shoving him out of sleep so fast, he sat bolt upright, eyes wide open, taking gulps of air, like a fish out of water.

After a moment, he slowed his heart and took in his surroundings.

There was no one there. He must have shaken himself awake.

He blinked a couple of time, the simple prospect of sleep wiped from his mind.

After the initial shock faded, he exhaled and closed his eyes, trying to remember what he had been dreaming about. Eventually, he gave up the futile pursuit and got dressed to go to the dining room.

As usual, Mabel was the only one awake, but there was something wrong. Something in the way she wouldn't look at him. Something in the way she said, "Good morning." so bluntly and strained.

The silence filled the room like chlorine gas. Filling his lungs, suffocating him.

When Stan came in, even with his usual morning attitude, Dipper was still grateful.

Long moments passed as he waited to see if Ford would come in, but, as usual, he was nowhere to be seen.  
Where did he go in the mornings? Or was it just his determination to avoid his brother? That seemed the most probable.  
Although, to be honest, what did Dipper really know about him? Sure, he had shared his deep, dark past with him last night, but, other than that, was there anything Dipper could call to mind that he knew about his Great Uncle?

The silence grew so thick, that Dipper left as soon as he had wolfed down his small breakfast. He had no idea where he was going, but anywhere was better than that place. With Mabel giving him wary glances and the distance that seemed to suddenly have appeared between them.

What had happened?

It was something Dipper may never know.

He exhaled, heavily, releasing some of the tension in his gut. The redolent scent of petrichor hung in the air, serving to calm his nerves down a little.

Having time to stop and think, the deep wounds on his arms, that still hadn't healed from last time, were starting to itch and moan in pain all at the same time, reminding him of what would happen if he kept losing control this frequently.

-

"Huh."

Dipper muttered under his breath as he approached the Shake.

"This might be the first time in weeks that I've actually come back early."

The time was probably only something around 10. Very early for the Shake. Some of the patrons might even still be conscious.

He made his way into the club, and, as he did, the sound of a full on riot was dominating the room.  
Glancing up at the stage, he noticed that there was no one there.

That wasn't surprising.

After the previous night, there was no way Mabel would want to come back and sing on stage again.

With a cautious look around, he manoeuvred his way to his quiet corner, only to find that it had been taken.

Relief flooded his system when he realised who it was.

"Soos! Wendy"

"Dipper!"

Soos came over, giving Dipper a big greetings hug.

"Hey, Dipper. It's great to see you again! I've missed you guys!"

He looked around, and then turned back to Dipper.

"Hey, uh, where's Mabel?"

Wendy stood, leaning against the wall, her usual half smile lazing on her face.

"I don't know, I was about to ask you if you knew."

They both shook their heads apologetically.

"Well, she can't have gone far. She's probably just a little shaken from yesterday."

The bodyguards' expressions grew serious as they nodded grimly. There wasn't any explanations needed in a place like this.

"So... Where have you been recently?"  
Dipper attempted to break the thick silence.

"I'd tell you, but I'd have to kill you." Wendy joked with a raised eyebrow.

Dipper laughed, glad the atmosphere was becoming more relaxed.

"Yeah, seriously, Mr Pines works us real hard!"

The ex-boxer laughed with them. Dipper hoped that he would continue in more detail about what exactly they were 'working' on, but he didn't. He had to stop himself from sighing in disappointment.

Despite this, the conversation was serving to take his mind off of recent events.

"So, since we're free now, for a while at least, do you wanna go check out this room I found in the back of one of the warehouses just outside town?" Wendy grinned mischievously.

"I was securing some area for Stan, and found this mysterious back room. I haven't given it a good turn-over yet, so, are you in?"

Dipper couldn't stop grinning like an idiot.

"Okay! I'm in!"

He had wanted to join her and her friends for ages, and now was finally the first time he would get to do just that!

"So, Soos, have you done much fixing recently?"

Remembering the last time Soos 'fixed' something for him and Mabel, Dipper wondered if anyone else had been subjected to Soos' skills.

"Oh, yeah, loads of stuff! I fixed one of Wendy's pistols while we were away..."

the gunwoman looked at Dipper and pointed towards some kind of lump of metal she was holding under the table, with bits that looked sharp enough to impale someone stuck at all angles.

"Oh, and I fixed the big clock in the hallway, didn't you notice?"

Dipper recounted seeing Stan hauling something that may have once resembled a clock out the back door one night when he was sneaking back into the building. That may explain it.

Wendy rolled her eyes and shared a knowing look with Dipper, silently laughing at how oblivious Soos was when it came to 'fixing' things.

"So, Dipper, what's been going on in your life recently? Anything interesting?"

She asked him.

"Uhhh... Well... Not really, just normal stuff."

He hated lying to these guys, but there wasn't really anything else he could do.

"Unless you count Stan somehow managing to find even worse jobs for me to do."

The two chuckled.

"I wouldn't worry about it, that's just who he is. Besides, if he keeps you busy, you can't be bored, right?"

Dipper laughed nervously. He wished he could tell her that being bored would be great for him at the moment.

He was about to say something else when...

"Soos! Wendy! Here! Now!"

The sound of Stan's cranky yell came from the hallway attached to the back exit to the club.

"What does he want this time?"  
Wendy groaned, rolled her eyes and, reluctantly, got up to leave. Both her and Soos gave Dipper a wave as they left.

After they had left, Dipper exhaled in exasperation. It had been an... Interesting day, to say the least, and now was the first time he had gotten time to relax.

The club was still in anarchy, people yelling as they descended further into vinolency.

The orange, yellow glow that came with the alcoholic atmosphere was, for the first time since Dipper had been here, rather warming.

*cough* *cough*

His lungs were still full of smoke, but, at least it had been getting better. Gradually.  
Upon finding a pipe in his pocket, full of ash, it was clear what Bill had done with it. If that kept up, Bill would choke him to death before anything else. He had no idea why anyone enjoyed the stuff, or maybe Bill reaped in the benefits, leaving him to deal with the consequences.

He sighed, and closed his eyes.

In the back of his mind still lingered worries about Mabel, but he couldn't even guess what Bill had done with her watching. Honestly, the last thing she needed was him following her around after what she probably saw.

It was weird. Not having her at his side. They had always been together, at least for the most part. She was one of the only people in the world Dipper could truly trust, unconditionally.

Why had all of this even happened?

It was all that brat Gideon's fault.

He had taken everything from them and now he stalked the town they had been forced to move to. And he had the absolute audacity to follow Mabel around like a stalker under ludicrous claims of affection!

Anger began building in Dipper's guts.

He gritted his teeth and forced himself to calm down. The last thing he needed was to hand over control on a silver platter.

Dipper was so preoccupied with stopping himself from flying off of the hook, he didn't even notice someone behind him until he felt the hand on his shoulder.

"AAAAAAH!"

He cried out and swung around to hit whoever it was, but they grabbed him by the wrist, stopping his blow before it, really, started.

"Dipper, Dipper, it's okay, it's just me."

Ford looked him in the eyes, the grip loosening on Dipper's arm.

"Oh, sorry, I was just... You caught me off guard."

Ford smiled.

"It's okay. Sorry I startled you."

The smile dropped.

"I wanted to ask you if you could come with me for a while."

Dipper looked at him, trying to mask his suspicion.

"Ummm... Where?"

"It's just about... Your problem."

"Oh."

Dipper nodded and followed Ford out of the club's back exit. They walked down the corridor until reaching an open doorway that presented stairs leading downwards.

"I didn't know we had a basement."

Dipper was impressed that after a thorough exploration of the house, this had never been discovered.

"Well, it's mostly unused, so I set some things up."

A sense of foreboding settled on the boy's spine. But, still, he made his way into the darkness. Into the Averno crater.

 **xXx**

 **YAAAAY! We have a Soos and a Wendy! Confirmed! About time those 2 showed up! I really struggled with how they would talk, since this isn't exactly set in the modern era, but I just can't imagine Soos without his way of saying things, so, I just kind of dulled it down a little. I hope it didn't end up too OOC!**

 **Thank you for ready, ladies and gentlemen, GOODNIGHT!**


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